23 October 2005

Franken Book Tour Off To Poor Start

Did Al Franken really kid about executing the President of the United States? Sure enough, it was loose cannon time for the alleged truth-teller.

Not exactly a solid start to Franken's The Truth (With Jokes) book tour. How nice to plug the release on the Late Show With David Letterman, isn't it?

Is it that hard to keep from bombing in such a friendly setting, however?

On-air implosion is a better way to describe Franken's unfunny, inappropriate 'performance'. Has an angry man overtaken the comedian, in an epic internal struggle for Al's mind?

Adding to the pain: his visit was stretched to a second segment.

Letterman provided the biggest surprise, asking Franken about the Air America/Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club scandal, almost right off the bat. While Al gave an evasive answer, it was stunning to think a late night comedian was willing to raise the issue, when many newspapers haven't.

While there weren't any follow-up questions, it's more than one could expect, given the forum.

The Political Teen has the video of this portion here, meanwhile, Siobhan supplies us with this transcript:

Letterman: "Correct me if I'm wrong but it looks like you have a new set there. Is that what it looks like?"

Franken: "Yes, this year we have a new set."

Letterman: "So things must be going well for you."

Franken:(sarcasm) "Oh........ yes!

"No, Air America is doing great. We've got 70 affiliates, cover about 65% of the country."

Letterman: "What was all that talk about money, somebody had money, didn't have money, loaned money, stole money, wouldn't give it back. Any of that true?"

Franken: "All of it, all of it. No, what happened was, we had a guy running the company at first who turned out to be (makes a face)..."

Letterman: "A goon? A thug?"

Franken: "Keep going..."

Letterman: "Idiot?"

Franken: "Worse than that. But he basically led us to believe..."

Letterman:(says something bleeped out)

Franken: "There you are. There you are. You see, I thought I couldn't say that. So anyway, he told us we had enough money to stay on the air for three years before we made a profit and it turned out to be three weeks."

Letterman:(laughing) "So, just a little bookkeeping error."

Franken: "So, we lost two of our stations right away and we had five at the time and they were Los Angeles and Chicago (laughing). So we had to wait a while until we got very good ratings and now we have 70 affiliates."

With much of one segment spent dragging out an unfunny, cobweb-filled rehash of Franken's ancient "the comedy team that weighs the same" routine, the viewer might have believed politics would be left out of the interview.

But sure enough, Al took the chance to shoot his mouth off, with ugly results.

Franken's ongoing Gloria Wise deceit is bad enough, but isn't joking about President Bush's execution way over the line?

The Media Research Center's Brent Baker created a transcript of this interview segment:

Franken: "And so basically, what it looks like is going to happen is that Libby and Karl Rove are going to be executed” because “outing a CIA agent is treason. (to audience laughter)

"Yeah. And I don't know how I feel about it because I'm basically against the death penalty, but they are going to be executed it looks like."

Franken later suggested President Bush is at risk of receiving the same punishment, since Karl Rove likely told him what he did, but added a caveat:

“I think, by the way, that we should never ever, ever, ever execute a sitting President."

Letterman: “The feeling was that this report made the administration's decision to go to war look bad...”

Franken: “Right. So they wanted to smear the guy who came back with the report, and so they out his wife and said she sent him there. This is essentially, you know, George H.W. Bush, the President's father, was the head of the CIA and he has said that outing a CIA agent is treason.”

Letterman: “It is treason, yes.”

Franken: “And so basically, what it looks like is going to happen is that Libby and Karl Rove are going to be executed." [audience laughter over Letterman’s response]

Letterman(mock indignation): “What? What! Really?”

Franken: “Yeah. And I don't know how I feel about it because I'm basically against the death penalty, but they are going to be executed it looks like.

Letterman: “The real crime is that there's an adult man walking around in the current administration named Scooter. I mean, we can agree on that, right?” [Audience laughter]

Franken: “That, but sooner or later he'll be executed, so that, and you worry about because the President at some, he said right away when Novak outed the CIA agent, Plame, said 'I want to get to the bottom of this.'

Well now, Karl Rove is his right-hand man. Did he ask Karl? Did Karl lie to him? If so, we know he should have fired Karl by now so that, and did Karl tell the truth to him? In that case the President -- and I think, by the way, that we should never ever, ever, ever execute a sitting President.” [Audience laughter]

Letterman: “It makes us look bad around the world, I think.” Franken, in jest: “It would. It would be heartbreaking, I think, and I think that we should have a constitutional amendment.”

Letterman: “I see, yeah. Have we ever come close in the history to executing a seated President?”

Franken: “No, this will be the closest.”

Letterman: “This will be the closest, yeah.”

Franken: “Unless we get that amendment passed now.”

End of MRC Transcript

While we've long enjoyed Letterman's show, it's curious how he could allow himself to be so easily sucked into Franken's weirdness. Perhaps Dave hasn't recently spent much time around him?

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55 Comments:

Nearly 4 weeks ago this blog was getting over four thousand hits a day. Then I decided to put the hammer down. In one 8 minute segment of my daily, three hour, nationally syndicated and highly successful radio program I was able to discredit the proprietor of this blog to the extent that 4 weeks later he has lost an average of 2500 blog hits a day. Subsequent to the presentation of that segment, I posted elements of my comments on this blog over the course of several different days and manners. I publicly humiliated the owner of this blog, on his very own blog. He has had no response. No public response that is.

Since that time several weeks ago, Brian Maloney has been sending me emails, under a “semi- anounoumous” (sic) address, which among other things, announce, as if a threat, that he would “never write about” me, unless I debate him on the Majority Report about “your slanderous remarks concerning the manner in which I was referred to in Time Magazine.”

Brian, I realize that posting this on your blog opens me to criticism that I may actually want to “appear” on your blog, but it is worth subjecting myself to that criticism for the opportunity to embarrass you this way and it gives me the chance to say…

I've been reading your work for some time now. I admire the excellence and accuracy of your work. Sorry I waiting so long to write and say that. You are an able and effective member of the blogosphere.

Cordially,

John Armor, Esq.(aka, Congressman Billybob on the Internet)

P.S. I dunno who this Seder person and his cronies are, but they seem to have the Franken problem -- an ego too large for either their bodies or their intellects. LOL.

Maloney tries never to respond to anything on this blog unless it benefits himself. I've asked him many of times why he doesn't use his so called fame (times magazine article..lol) to go to Iraq and do what Al Franken has done numerous times, build the moral of servicemen that are supposedly "spreading freedom"? I might be back in Iraq by December this year hopefully (for my third time), it will be my pleasure to see Al Franken there (his third time). Maloney do you support the troops? And how do you do that? I guess Mr. Franken is un-american or is it you?

This poster isn't Sam Seder, nor have I made any contact with the real Seder.

In the past, it has been Sam posting. No one else could have posted something and a few minutes later read exactly what he posted over the airwaves on a neat radio show called The Majority Report. Granted, it could have been one of his producers or an intern, or someone violating the laws of pysics, but Sam does know how to navigate around the internet.

Al Franken hasn't looked that sickly since he was butt-f**ked by a gorilla on Trading Places.

Air America, the liberal talk network carried on WWRC-AM (1260), went from bad to nonexistent. After WWRC recorded a mere fraction of a rating point in the spring with syndicated shows from the likes of lefty talkers Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo and Stephanie Miller, Arbitron couldn't detect a measurable listenership for the station this time around.

Actually, all Frankenfuzzy was doing on the Letterman show is kissing the butt of Scare America's newest and bestest sponsor, the Maoist Revolutionary Communist party's Sunsara Taylor's new project "The World Can't Wait.'

Next, the Hairball America crowd will start running around with Nagant pistols threatening to "re-educate" those that don't subscribe to the Marxist agenda.

Yep. Nothing has changed around here. Baloney is still obsessed with Franken and TomC is still totally paranoid about reds.

I wonder if The Ass-Brains will repeat his moronic assertion that Rove and Libby were just witnesses in Fitzgerald's investigation and couldn't possibly be indicted. Now we know for sure Ass-Brains was lying about going to law school. Either that or he was scraping the bottom of his class.

Brian, I think you are being too hard on Franken. Poor Al has had these anger management issues for years, ever since his stint as a writer on the original "Saturday Night Live" when he was constantly ticked off because John Belushi was getting all the good drugs.

Why is the USO sponsoring so-called "comedians" who daily give aid and comfort to the terrorists who are murdering Iraqis and US troops?

Hey dum dum, you completely miss the context. The context on Letterman was that Bush's own father said that anyone who exposes a CIA operative is a traitor. The ones who gave aid and comfort to terrorists were those who exposed major operations and intellegence about WMDs. That would be Rove and Libby, and probably higher ups.

BTW, Franken has been entertaining our troops for six straight years, and no inbred redneck has ever punched him out.

So, Al Franken, who we know has had a history of anger-management problems, is talking about the assassination of the President. Plus, on his video book promotion on Amazon, he is busting a chair over a conservative fellow's head, and laughing when the fellow is hit with a bottle.

Ass-Brains said: Remember, you girls on the left "support" the troops.

And you jail-bitches on the right support contemptible shitheads who leak classified national security information during a time of war. Are you still stupidly sticking to your delusion that Rove and Libby were just witnesses in Fitzgerald's investigation, Ass-Brains?

I guess because of the mentions of Al Frankferter, the ad for Amazon lists several books about or by him. His book "Liars and ..." is listed used for $0.32 !! I guess someone knows what his BS is worth.JoeTex

3. The contention that Plame had to do with "national security" is a fiction you are creating.

Plame was merely working for a CIA front company that was working on WMD proliferation issues. Yeah, she had nothing to do with national security. Moron.

1. Nobody can compel you to tetify in front of a grand jury2. they testified as witnesses3. neither has received a target letter.

--I fully expect you can not grasp those facts.

And Ass-Brains continues to apologize for Rove and Libby by hanging on to his delusion that they merely testified as "witnesses" and therefore can't be indicted. Even your rabid wing-nut hero Byron York isn't stupid enough to bother with such a fiction.

Luskin also addressed the question of whether Rove is a "subject" of the investigation. Luskin says Fitzgerald has told Rove he is not a "target" of the investigation, but, according to Luskin, Fitzgerald has also made it clear that virtually anyone whose conduct falls within the scope of the investigation, including Rove, is considered a "subject" of the probe. "'Target' is something we all understand, a very alarming term," Luskin says. On the other hand, Fitzgerald "has indicated to us that he takes a very broad view of what a subject is."

But I fully expect that you are unable to grasp these facts. Your laughable stupidity and your delusional dishonesty has been clearly demonstrated once again. What shred of credibility do you have left?

Plame was merely working for a CIA front company that was working on WMD proliferation issues.

No, she was working at a desk in Langley and had been doing so for several years, moron.She was so "covert" she posed in Vanity Fair in November 2003.

continues to apologize for Rove and Libby by hanging on to his delusion that they merely testified as "witnesses" and therefore can't be indicted.

When did I say they can't be indicted, idiot?

When did I "apologize" for anyone?

You clearly are incapable of coherent thoughts.

See moron, the fact that you can be indicted shouldn't be news.I know you, in your ignorance, think them testifying is some big deal, but you don't know what you're talking about, so of course you draw that conclusion.

Again, testifying as a witness doesn't mean you have to be indicted, moron. Maybe they will, maybe they won't.

You still doen't even understand the Grand Jury system or even what an indictment is.But you continue to opine on matters of which you are clearly ignorant.Why?

See, printing someone's name, when one would assume that said person used aliases because they were "covert", doesn't really expose that person to publicity like posing for pictures in a magazine does, does it?

No, she was working at a desk in Langley and had been doing so for several years, moron.

You've got no choice but to resort to pathetic dissembling. Who cares where her desk was, idiot? Her nominal employer was Brewster Jennings, a company set up as a cover for Plame and others who were working on WMD proliferation issues specifically in the Middle East. And yet you assert that Plame had nothing to do with national security. Moron.

When did I say they can't be indicted, idiot?

OK... a quick Google search...

Assbrains said:except for the fact that he has written assurances he isn't being investigated. Therefore, how are you going to bring and indictment against someone you aren't investigating?

What are the dopes on the Hill talking about?ROVEROVE!!!!!!"Karl Rove should immediately and fully apologize for his remarks or he should resign," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a statement. "I hope the president will join me in repudiating these remarks."

Are you kidding me? People, these are serious times, where the decisions of our goverment can save lives, or kill people. What are these too tepid elected representatives doing instead? Fanning the flames of a non-story the media think important and being totally derelect in their duty to protect and defend this country.

You are clearly so stupid, you can't even remember what you yourself posted in your own blog.

Once again you've been nailed to wall as a liar and a moron. And if indictments are returned this week or whenever, you're going to be even more of a laughing stock than you are now.

You don't know when Plame's cover via Brewster Jennings started or ended. However, you claimed that Plame had nothing to do with national security when in fact she was a WMD specialist working for the CIA. Moron.

You clearly wrote in your blog that Rove's actions were unimportant when compared with other things and therefore should be given a pass, and yet you claim you're not apologist for his actions. Are you really such a blathering idiot that you have no clue of your own posts?

Ass-Brains said:Therefore, how are you going to bring and indictment against someone you aren't investigating?

You are clearly stating a general assertion here (which you then apply to Rove) that someone can't be indicted if they're not being investigated... NOT that Rove won't be indicted in the specific instance. Liar.

You have no choice but to squirm and dissemble when confronted with your own words. Give it up. You're nothing but a dishonest moron who hasn't got the good sense to come clean when shown for what you are.

You don't know when Plame's cover via Brewster Jennings started or ended

I know for a fact she was there in 1999.I also know for a fact she was not there in 2003.

This isn't in dispute, only to you, silly ignorant liberal.

You clearly wrote in your blog that Rove's actions were unimportant when compared with other things and therefore should be given a pass

Please, please find where I said he should be "given a pass"Please, moron.

See phillis, to someone with just a touch of comprehension, the point of the post is that the Dims in Congress need not be carrying on about a topic of which they have no facts (much like you) since the investigation at that point was on going.Can you grasp such basic concepts?Apparently not.They knew nothing, and still no nothing (like you) and were calling for Rove to be fired.That's the point simpleton.

You are clearly stating a general assertion here (which you then apply to Rove) that someone can't be indicted if they're not being investigated

No, I asked a question, which you can not and did not answer as you are ignorant of the law.

As noted, I didn't use the word 'can't' anywhere, ever.

Just further demonstration you are a silly person that says silly things.

Ace Said printing someone's name, when one would assume that said person used aliases because they were "covert", doesn't really expose that person to publicity like posing for pictures in a magazine

printing someone's name - Novak claimed Wilson's wife, Valerie PLAME, was a CIA "Operative," not an analyst or a desk jockey. Novak OUTED Plame. In a major newspaper. On the internets.

assume - makes an ass out of you and me.

when ONE would assume that said person used aliases because they were "covert" - Who's the ONE making this assumption? Novak? He wrote Plame was an operative after the CIA told him not to. Are YOU the ONE assuming coverts use aliases? What's your covert operations expertise? Movies, books or 20 years working for the Company? Apparently "Plame" was a good enough "alias" for a career in the CIA, for the CIA to ask the DOJ to prosecute the outing of an agent, for Ashcroft to recuse himself and appoint a Special Prosecutor, for a judge to throw a reporter in jail for 85 days. If your CIA contact says don't publish, how do you "assume" to know better?

printing someone's name...doesn't really expose that person to publicity like posing for pictures in a magazine - July (article) to November (cover). I was alive and conscience in August and September. Novak's charges didn't fall into a black hole until the cover was published. Even the pre-USSR Collapse CIA could have picked up the outing of Plame in a major newpaper, on TV and in the blogs before the Vanity Fair cover came out.

Novak outed Plame in July.She was a long way from "covert" when Vanity Fair published.

Ass-Brains, it's hilarious watching you dance around like a feebleminded little girl.

You're nothing but a deluded ignoramus who for some absurd reason believes he has devined when and where Plame ended her Brewster cover, and then based upon that delusion, stupidly claims Plame had absolutely nothing to do with national security.

Your simpleminded rant on your blog and the very fact that you have resorted to this pitiful dissembling behind a paltry literal argument is more than sufficent demonstration that you're just another pathetic apologist for those morally bankrupt shitheads in this administration who were behind the campaign against Wilson. And you obviously have no appreciation for how laughable you are for putting up such assinine arguments when your words are there for everyone to see.

Ass-Brains said:except for the fact that he has written assurances he isn't being investigated. Therefore, how are you going to bring and indictment against someone you aren't investigating?

There's no hiding, you lying moron. Your transparent attempts at revisionism are risable. Your pathetic pretense at playing lawyer has been imploded by your demonstrated igorance and your barefaced dishonesty. If you want to believe these pitiful fictions then you can remain in your deluded little bubble of lies.

You, like phillis, are a silly ignorant juvenile moron.Have you gotten any talking point from any source other than the DU?

. Are YOU the ONE assuming coverts use aliases?

Yeah simpleton, all these "covert"(I suggest you look up the definition idiot) agent use their real names. You really are a parody.

Apparently "Plame" was a good enough "alias" for a career in the CIA, for the CIA to ask the DOJ to prosecute the outing of an agent, for Ashcroft to recuse himself and appoint a Special Prosecutor, for a judge to throw a reporter in jail for 85 days. If your CIA contact says don't publish,

Again, ignorance.1. The request was routine and did not say a crime was committed2. Novak does not agree with you.3. The reporter went to jail for contempt of court you idiot. Any judge would put you in jail for behavior in any case.

Again, you are ignorant of facts, so why are talking about a topic of which you know so little?

Even when confronted with irrefutable proof of her spectacular ignorance and her own unfathomable mendacity, Ass-Brains persists in her moronic delusion. The "Plame wasn't a covert operative" talking point perpetuated by the lying right has been shown to be just more wing-nut dogshit drying up in the wind.

From MSNBC:In a sign that Fitzgerald continues to gather evidence, FBI agents interviewed at least two of Wilson's neighbors in the Palisades neighborhood Monday night. Marc Lefkowitz and David Tillotson said yesterday that they told the FBI they had no clue that Plame, who they knew by her married name, Valerie Wilson, worked for the agency until Novak's column appeared.

the pre-USSR Collapse CIA could have picked up the outing of Plame in a major newpaper

So that is your suggestion, she used "Valerie Plame" as her name?You know this, how?

Funny, you keep repeating your silly nonsense on the topic, but here is what Novak says:

" I regret that I referred to her in my column as an "operative," a word I have lavished on hack politicians for more than 40 years. While the CIA refuses to publicly define her status, the official contact says she is "covered" -- working under the guise of another agency. However, an unofficial source at the Agency says she has been an analyst, not in covert operations"

Geesh! You're a spectacular moron. First, that web archive page was updated on July 20, 2003 after Novak outed her (July 14). And second, neither "who's who" nor the MEI revealed Plame's CIA status. It wasn't her name that was a classified, moron. It was the fact that she worked for the CIA. How much of this interminable ignorance are you going to spew forth?

She listed Jennings, Brewster, & Associates as her employer on a 1999 campaign donation to Al Gore.

So what? It was a front company, moron... specifically created as a cover for Plame and other covert operatives. Then they could name some organization as an employer rather than revealing that they actually worked for the CIA. But you still have absolutely no idea when Plame stopped her association with Brewster Jennings - which whenever she did, it in no way follows that she then stopped being a covert operative. And you're still an ignorant moron for claiming she had absolutely nothing to do with national security. That assertion totally contradicts the original BS that Plame selected Wilson for the trip to Niger, you feebleminded pinhead.

She was not covert, she was not terribly concerned with masking her identity (hence the posing for pictures in Vanity Fair).

fracas_futile has already handed you your head on the Vanity Fair question.

You really should just stop, Ass-Brains. You're just making more of a fool of yourself.